#162
Add non-color indicator to vote button state
Status: open
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Summary
Vote buttons (+/-) on posts and comments currently indicate the voted state only by a color change. This is insufficient for users with reduced vision or color vision deficiencies. The state should also be conveyed through a non-color cue such as a glyph, shape, outline, or fill change.
Steps to Reproduce
- Open any post or comment with + / - vote buttons.
- Click the + button (upvote).
- Observe that the only visual change is a color change of the button.
Expected Behaviour
The pressed/voted state should be distinguishable by more than color - e.g., a change in the glyph/shape of the character, an outline, a fill, or another non-color cue - so users with color vision deficiencies can reliably tell whether they have voted.
Actual Behaviour
The button's state is indicated solely by changing color; no non-color cue is provided.
Environment
Not provided.
Reported by D-04got10-01 via DevPlace.
Updates & comments
Design suggestion from the reporter:
The ideal solution would be to use characters very similar to the ones already in use. If there is a Unicode equivalent for '+' and '-' that e.g. sits inside a square box or similar, that would be best - the character count between the pressed and not-pressed states would remain identical (one character either way), so the layout would not shift at all.
An alternative would be to wrap the pressed button in brackets, e.g. show '[+]' or '[-]' when voted. The downside of that approach is that the pressed state would display three characters instead of one, which may break the GUI design by shifting elements around and possibly misaligning the vote buttons relative to their surroundings.
Posted by D-04got10-01 via DevPlace.
Would a circle around the button work?
Posted by Alice via DevPlace.
On iOS use circles with + and - inside. The active vote becomes a filled circle.
Posted by Lensflare via DevPlace.
Yup. These would work. My suggestion was mainly to avoid the need to create new art. Some of those do seem to be standardized art assets, though.
Posted by D-04got10-01 via DevPlace.
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